Merugud Uilix Maicc Leirtis

(The Wandering of Ulixes Son of Laertes)

translated by

Kuno Meyer

In parentheses Publications
Medieval Irish Series
Cambridge, Ontario 1999
 After the capture and destruction of the chief town of the Trojans and
the adventures of the Greeks, every one of these reached his own native
land and country. Then Ulixes, the son of Laertes, also reached his land
and country, and saw the mountains of his native land before him. It is
a grievous thing to us what we shall find thereviz., the beautiful,
gentle queen whom we left there, with another man before our face, and
another king over our territory, and our land in his possession, and old
age on our own form, though it is we by right.
Do not let this oppress thee, said his men to Ulixes, for we shall all
find the same evil.
Then a storm fell upon them, and they were again driven out into the
wet of the open sea, and were thus astray for a year, until they came to a
large island. And they found great big woolly sheep, and killed three of
them. And they put up their tents over them, and placed their fires and
prepared their sheep. Three days and three nights they were there. After
that Ulixes spoke. It is time for us to be starting, said he.
It is not just what thou sayest, said they, for here we have our fill
of food to the day of judgment, in what there is here of sheep.
This, he said, I shall not do for your sake, to give up seeking to
reach our native land.
What thou art seeking, said they, is that we may all perish in thy
track, as all thy people were left before this.
Then they left the island, and went again in their ships, and were a
year on the sea, until they reached another island. When they had gone
on that island, they found a mountain of gold in its midst. This is a
good find, said his men to Ulixes.
How do ye know that? said he. Did ye not get enough treasures
out of Troy? And they began to gather in the gold until they saw the
Cyclops coming towards them. And he did not ask tidings of them, but
as they were there, so he went among them. Where there was a hero or a

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battle-soldier he closed his arms around them, and broke and minced
their bones and their flesh. Then after having killed a great number of
them, he lifted up nine of them between his two arms, together with
Ulixes, the son of Laertes. Now when Ulixes, the cunning right clever
man, perceived that he was being carried off by force, he escaped
between the elbows of his men down to the ground, and his men were
carried away from him. Then he went to the ships, and related those
tidings to the nine that were in the ships. And his people said to him:
Let us put plenty of treasures in our vessels and proceed on our way.
Not so, said he, until it is found out how my men are taken from
me; and it is sad and sore to me that they are carried off from me.
Though it is sad, said they, do not say so, for we deem it a
sufficient honour that thou art among us.
Then Ulixes went to seek the big man; and he came to the door of the
cave. There he saw the white-faced sad countenances of his men in the
cave looking out at him. Comrades, said he, great is the danger in
which ye are.
Thou art right, said they, and thou thyself wilt be out of it.
Not so, said he; not before I and the giant have met.
What dost thou think? said they. What means hast thou to use
against him? Thy spear is not so sharp nor thy arm so strong that the
point of thy spear could touch a bone in his body.
Can ye try to rise over him from behind? said he.
Alas! said they, there are three paces of each man of us between
his two nipples.
How do ye know, said he, that the barbarous nature that is in his
body may not be a heaviness which is easy to overcome when his body is
asleep? Rise over him from behind, said he, and raise your breaths in
the top of your breast to lighten yourselves. They arose and went out
over him, and there were three paces of every man of them between his
two nipples as they stepped over him.
Now let us go, said they.
Not so, said he, not until I and the giant have met. He went up to
him, and into the one big eye that was in the front part of his forehead
he put the point of his spear, between the two brows, and gave a thrust
to the spear in his eye. And he had a difficult task to save himself from

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the broad and large loch of water that burst from it. However, the
mountain shook and the cave resounded with the beating which the huge
gigantic man made with his feet and his arms, as he sought for him who
had done that outrage on him. And thereupon they went into their ship.
It is related that a man of the people of Ulixes went away, out of a
hardy and idle mood, and this was the man who met Aeneas, the son of
Anchises, when he was on his voyage of exile.
Now Ulixes was one year on the sea after leaving that island, and
nine of his men only reached land with him, while the others found
death through an unknown malady. Then Ulixes went on shore, and
shepherds with their flocks met him. Now that man was very cunning, a
clever right wise man, sharing in many a tongue, for he was wont to
learn the tongue of every country to which he came, and to ask tidings of
them in the language that they used.
And this is what he learnt from them, that the Judge of Right was
lord in that country.
What right is it that serves him? asked Ulixes.
Every man that gets instruction from him, he will reach his native
land at once, said they.
Why, said Ulixes, should not I get instruction from him?
Thou hast not the means, said he who spoke with him; for a single
days instruction is not given without (a payment of) thirty ounces of
gold to him. And thou, said they, who art thou?
One of the fugitives of the Trojans am I, said he. And he went from
them towards his ship. And his men asked tidings from him. And he
related to them as he had heard, and told them to get instruction. But
they said that they had no desire to do so; for our hairs have fallen out,
and our eyes have grown dim, and our faces have become black, and our
teeth yellow, and we have no great need to give away our gold or our
possessions for instruction that would be of no use to us.
Which is better for you, said he; to leave it in the breaches of
danger or at the gates of death, or to spend it for an instruction which
will be profitable to you?
Thereupon they went on their way to the fortress, and the man of the
place met them on the meadow and asked tidings of them. And they
related to him every hardship that they had encountered. And he asked

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them what they had come for. We have come to learn from thee.
Ye will get it, provided ye have the means for it.
What at all are the means? said they.
I do not give a single days instruction without thirty ounces of red
gold.
We shall find that for thee, said they. Then they were made
welcome, and a separate bed-chamber was given to them, and meat and
drink was taken into it for them, and all was got ready for them to bathe
and to wash. And there they stayed that night.
Early on the morrow they arose and went to the place where the
Judge of Right was. They weighed out thirty ounces of red gold to him,
and he taught them. And this was the instruction: Though ye nine had
but one father and one mother amongst you, and though one man had
killed your father and your mother, yet do ye resolve not to kill him
before ye have held three counsels with yourselves about it, and before it
is certain that ye all are of one mind for ever. And though it come upon
one man of you only, nevertheless let him not do the deed until he has
three times kept his breath and held counsel with his own mind. If that
then is what his mind will bring away from the counsel, then let him do
the deed.
Say on, said they.
No more for to-day but this, said he. Then they went to their
house.
That gold is thrown away, said his men to Ulixes.
They were there that night, and though the attendance they had the
first night was good, it was better this night.
They rose early on the morrow, and went to the house of precept.
Thirty ounces of gold were weighed out to him, and this is what he said:
As to the road ye travel every day, do not follow a bypath or short cut,
but follow the high road.
Say on, said they.
No more teaching to-day but this, said he.
Then they went to their house. That gold is lost, said his men to
Ulixes.
Who knows but that ye will find its use? said Ulixes. And though
the attendance of the first two nights was good, it was better the third

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night.
They arose early in the morrow, and went to the house of precept.
And thirty ounces of red gold were weighed out, and this is what he
said. Do ye see the sun at this moment?
We do, said they.
Let none of you leave his place or dwelling, how great soever his
impatience may be, until the sun has reached the place where he is now.
Say on, said they.
No more teaching from me this turn, but that, said he. And do not
leave to-morrow before I have talked to you, said he.
They went to their house, and arose early the next morning, and
went out on the meadow. And the man met them and bade him farewell,
and they left their blessing with him.
Take with thee, said the Judge, this small box as a keepsake, and if
thou open it, thou shalt never again reach thy native land.
That is a small reward for us after we have reached our country.
And he gave them guidance how to reach their country by land.
Thereupon they went on their way, and it is not told here how long they
were on the road.
But they reached a great march, and there was a public hostelry in
that march: into that they went, like anybody else. Great numbers came
from all quarters into that house. Everyone of them asked the other,
What direction are ye going tomorrow?
We are going into the border country, said they. However, the
company that was in that hostelry arose. They went out from the house
into the field.
Howbeit, Ulixes said: Ill from me have gone my thirty ounces of
gold, if I would not stay until the sun will rise to the place that he told
us. Then he sat himself down.
What is this? said his people to him.
I shall keep by my instruction, said Ulixes.
This is what thou art seeking, said they, that we all may perish in
thy track; as the men of the eighty ships have perished that fell before
Troy in thy track, so likewise shall we perish in thy track.
Do ye intend to stay? said a man of the company.
Even so, said they.

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 Are ye acquainted with the border-land?
We are not, said they.
Do ye not see the field and the road?
We do, said they.
Make for those, said he, and if ye get across, ye will reach your
country safe. Then that company went on their way, but Ulixes with his
men waited till the sun had risen to the place that had been told them.
Yonder, said they, are the first of the company on the road, and if
we were there now, we should reach home safely.
It seems to me, said Ulixes, your company is not yet round the
field, nor will the wish be with you on the other side.
And suddenly they beheld the earth bursting open under the
company, so that they saw not one man of them alive.
Do ye see that? said Ulixes.
We see it, said they.
Good is the profit of our thirty ounces of gold for you; and let us set
out now, said he, for they will have dispersed yonder after the deed.
Then they went their way on the road until they reached the
border-land, and came into a great wilderness. And they did not follow
a path or road from the highway. Howbeit, two of his men went out on a
bypath, and at once found their death.
The seven, however, that remained reached their native town, and
came to the bower where the Queen was. And they saw her on a great
throne upon the firm floor of the house, and a youth, the fairest in shape
of the heroes of the world, at her shoulder. I told you so, said Ulixes.
We must needs brook it, said they.
Ye good men there before me, said the Queen, whose name was
Penelope, who at all are ye?
Seafarers astray are we, said they.
Go, said she, into the guest-house. They were served that night
till they went to their bed.
Do ye know what I should like to do? said Ulixes.
We know not, said they.
I had a subterranean cave of escape out of the town, and there is one
entrance to it in the town yonder, with a closing door to it, and another
entrance on the green outside, and the weight of a flagstone upon it. And

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what I want to do is to go through the outer door along the cave to the
other end, until I reach their bed-chamber, and the place where they are
together on the pillow; there will I slay them both with my sword.
Evil is that counsel, said they. But fitter it is for thee to go and
seek the King of the Greeks, and to lament unto him thy sorrows; and
just as thou didst go in his host, so let him go in thine host to contest thy
native country for thee.
May the gods we worship never allow that! said Ulixes.
Then there was reproach and counter-reproach between his men and
him. It is thus we have all fallen in thy track, said they.
Then he arose from them to get into the town beyond, and he
reached the bed-chamber, and heard the conversation of the two on the
pillow. And he bared his sword on the spot, and raised his arm. Ill is
the profit of my instruction for me, said he, if I do not first control my
nature till I have kept my breath.
Thrice he raised his arm in order to strike with the edge of his sword
at the neck of the two. The third time that he raised his arm, and wanted
to do the deed, then spoke the Queen.
Uch, tich, oh son, said she, thy father has, appeared to me over
our heads, and stoutly he was minded to strike off our heads, thinking
that thou wert my fair leman. I swear by the gods I worship, said she,
that I do not know guilt from another man since he went away in the
host of the Greeks; and he left me pregnant at the time he went, and
thou wert born from that pregnancy. And I never let the body of another
man into one bed with myself, but the blood of him and mine own blood
have still preserved his honour.
When Ulixes heard that speech his spirit rejoiced within him.
Thereupon she arose and wept swift showers of tears, and he was
listening to her until sleep fell upon him, even till the end of the night
came. Then he arose and was greatly ashamed of that sleep. He went out
and lay down among his men and told them what had happened. And he
gave thanks to the gods for it.
On the morrow they arose and went into the same house.
Ye good men, said the Queen, who at all are ye?
Ulixes the son of Laertes am I, said he.
Thou art not the Ulixes that we knew, said she.

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 It is I in sooth, said he; and I shall tell thee my tokens, said he.
And then he went into her sweet secrets and their talks together, and the
things she hid in her heart.
Where is thy form, and where are thy men, said she, if thou art
Ulixes?
They are gone to ruin, said he.
What are the last tokens thou leftst with me? said she.
A golden brooch, said he, and a head of silver was on it; and thy
brooch I took with me when I went into the ship, and it was then thou
didst turn away from us, said Ulixes.
That is true, said she, and if thou art Ulixes, I will ask thy dog.
I did not expect her to be alive, said he.
I made her the gruel of long life, for I had seen the great love that
thou didst bear her. And what sort of a dog now is she? said she.
Two shining white sides has she, and a light purple back and a
jet-black belly, and a greenish tail, said Ulixes.
That is the description of the dog, said she; and, moreover, no
man in the place dared to give her food but myself and thee and the
steward.
Let the dog be brought in, said Ulixes.
And four men got up for her, and brought the dog into the house.
And when she heard the sound of Ulixes voice, she gave a pull at the
chain, so that she sent the four men on their back through the house
behind her, and she sprang to the breast of Ulixes and licked his face and
his countenance.
When the people of Ulixes saw that, they sprang towards him. What
man soever could not reach his skin, would kiss his garment with many
kisses. And his wife did not go to him. Thou art Ulixes, said she.
I am, said he.
Many are the Mighty Folk, said she, and I shall keep my singleness
until thy form come to thee. He was a week there before she recognized
his form; and then they became one.
I have a little box, said Ulixes, which my good instructor gave me,
and told me not to open it until I should give it to thee. They opened it
on the spot. Ninety ouncesviz., what he had given for the
instructionthat was what was in it, and a cover of gold on the top of it,

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to preserve their true amount for him.
So this is the wandering of Ulixes the son of Laertes, from beginning
to end, so far.

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